Rescuers suspend operation in Tuva due to weather conditions

March 03, 2013, 21:46 UTC+3The rescue operation will resume as soon as it is possible. The number of rescuers increases

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Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, March 3 (Itar-Tass) – Rescuers have suspended the search for missing schoolchildren in Tuva due to the deterioration of weather conditions, the ministry’s spokesperson, Irina Rossius, told Itar-Tass on Sunday.

“At 11.20 p.m. the rescue operation has been stopped due to the deterioration of weather conditions. The rescue operation will resume as soon as it is possible. The number of rescuers increases. A total of 25 rescuers from the Siberian regional rescue and search operation left for the spot,” Rossius said.

Six senior school students born in 1995, 1996 and 1999 turned out to be entrapped under the avalanche in the Mongun-Taiginsky district on Sunday. A 17-year-old teenager, who managed to get out from under the avalanche, informed parents about the incident. At about 7 p.m. the teenagers were staying on the Ak-Bashtyg Mount, 17 kilometres north of the village Mugur-Aksy. A little bit later, learning about the incident, the chief executives of the district authorities, as well as the firemen from the fire depot number 19 rushed to the incident site.

The medics, road policemen, policemen and emergency workers also rushed to the incident site. The special machinery, including Kamaz trucks, snowmobiles and UAZ trucks were assigned to the accident site. Meanwhile, the team of 20 rescuers from the centre of sport training and rehabilitation of rescuers Yergaki in the Yermakovsky district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, 180 kilometres away from Kyzyl, was dispatched in the Mongun-Taiginsky district.

The hotline of the Tuva republican emergency situation department was opened.